UTMC: Concept Art "Q&A" Thread
polycounter lvl 20
This thread is for you to ask questions you have regarding the contest, it's theme, rules, and everything in between. Folks at Epic will be on hand to help answer the questions.
As always, when we answer your questions we will be editing your own post with the answer written in blue.
As always, when we answer your questions we will be editing your own post with the answer written in blue.
Replies
If we're allowed to do that, would we still need individual threads for each separate style then?
Answer: Individual threads/submissions will be required here. You're more than welcome to do what you're asking, they would just need to be considered as separate entries from one another.
1. Is one theme a level? or can we do 3 separate levels?
2. Can we make more than one theme if it is Theme = level?
Answer: Themes and levels are different. For this contest, the 'theme' is whats important. And you have up to 3 images to show your concept for that theme. Whether you show it in a level, a broad painting, or however you'd like is up to you.
Ideally, yes. We're trying to get styles defined for the overall look of the levels in this challenge. I would LOVE to say that you can do characters or weapons or whatever, but that would cloud the entries and make judging more difficult. So ... just environments this time around, please!
And how exactly does this contest differ from the work that has been done on UT's development forums?
It's organized and there are prizes.
-Warren @ Epic
It would suck to only have 2 (possibly one) winners and the rest forgotten. How sad :[
There won't be a small set of winners here. We'll use any and all artwork that we feel hits the marks we're looking for. Anyone who contributes artwork we like will be included in the art book and get credit in the game itself.
A selected few will get the iteration and feedback with our art director, Chris Perna.
Polycount has some prizes of their own that they are awarding and of course the console can only go to one person. That's up to the judgement of Polycount.
-Warren @ Epic
The artist stills owns the artwork but will license it to Epic for use in the game and inclusion in the art book.
-Warren @ Epic
I'm a stranger to level concepts, but experience tells me a lot can change in the "defining the theme" stage, and I would feel silly naming my thread after my very first thought.
Edit: Further reading above, looks like you're trying to organize by theme - with separate ideas/themes by the same person requiring separate threads. I'll assume then that my brainstorming should be done out of thread, possibly with the work leading up to the chosen theme being posted in the theme thread once I've settled on one.
ANSWER: Feel free to use your user name
No, that's really up to Chris. He probably won't be chiming in on Polycount, tho. At least until this challenge is over. In the spirit of competition, however, it would feel liking cheating to me to try and get him to comment on work over there that you're posting here.
Just my 2 cents.
- Warren @ Epic
EDIT: Sorry, I should of specified. I wasn't really concerned about the contest aspect, I was asking more about the other concept work like characters and weapons.
Oh, weapons and characters, sure! - Warren @ Epic
Add as much or as little as you want of that sort of thing. If it's important to your concept, then it would be smart to include it. We're more looking for visual direction than game play at this point but, as I said, if it impacts your concept - sure!
- Warren @ Epic
Okay?
Don't use anything copyrighted if you're going to use photos. Using photos is fine just make sure you have the rights to use them.
- Warren @ Epic
For example, I'm doing a fish market theme but now I have two more fish market designs in mind. They share similarities (island and boat tunnels) but also differences (one is enclosed, another has a more spread out layout).
Just checking.
Sure, I don't see why not. When you submit, you'll probably have t make 3 separate submissions but using the same WIP thread for all 3 should be fine if they're all closely related to each other.
- Warren @ Epic
While appreciated, this initial challenge is mainly for environment art. If you want to post other concept art, consider the Unreal Tournament forum art section. You can get feedback and iterate there if you'd like! We may do a more official character focused challenge in the future.
- Warren @ Epic
Thank You for your answer!
Not really something we'd considered but if the thumbnails were all exploring a unified theme, I think that could work. It would be hard to judge 6 thumbnails of radically different themes in a single image, IMO.
- Warren @ Epic
1 What's more important to Epic in this contest, rougher very interesting ideas or polished visuals?
2 Can we continue developing new concepts or refine our ideas even after the contest is over, and would Epic still consider them after the contest ends?
3 Can we include a synopsis of the theme or ideas for level mechanics on what sort of ideas we have along with the final, or keep that to the WIP thread?
4 How helpful to Epic would it be for us to post our references along the WIP thread or finals?
Thank you for your time
Sorry for repeating it, but it's been 3 weeks and there's no answer posted. Am I running into new account limitations?
Thanks.
I was wondering if we had to have the final piece done by Aug 4th or if we just had to have the WIP thread up by that date? I'm very very new to ploycount so I'm not use to the contests here so sorry if this is dumb question!
Edit: looks like you got it sorted out. Good luck!
I'm aware of that myself but just prefer to not leave it to the very last minute.
I just wanted to submit my stuff and given my calculation, it should be Monday, August 4th 2014, 21:27 - aka 9:27PM right now! The deadline is 23:59, why can't I participate anymore?
I'm not exactly pleased...
It even states it here.
Good luck to everyone, we'll need it. :poly121:
where or who should I send my entry to?
You cant post officially, but you can try your hand at unnoficially.
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=138154&page=2
Right now it's past the deadline by 30 minutes so it's going to be pretty grey-area if you get counted. How long have you been trying to submit for? When you made your post it seems like you were 15minutes late past the deadline.
I've been trying to post around 11:50pm PST, but realized the link was broken. midnight pass as I was searching for Q&A to the link, guess I'll try the unoffical tread.